RECOGNIZING the contributions of Ceres Negros FC in Philippine football, Negrense lawmaker Senator Miguel Zubiri has filed Senate Bills 1390 and 1391 granting Philippine citizenship to Busmen strikers Robert Waly Lopez Mendy, and Bienvenido Marañon Morejon, respectively.
The bills seek to grant Philippine citizenship to both Mendy, and Marañon giving them all the rights and privileges as well as the duties and obligations appurtenant thereto under the Constitution and the laws of the land.
In Senate Bill 1390, it stated that Mendy was born in Dakar, the Republic of Senegal on February 23, 1987, and has acquired his college degree of Literature and Language, Major in the French Language from College Sacre Coeur in Dakar, Senegal.
Further stated that he moved to the Philippines on August 13, 2013, when he started playing as an import for the Philippines Football League (PFL), which was sanctioned by the Philippine Football Association.
Mendy is married to Maebel “Ameera” Ybera Lacastesantos, a Filipina, in 2016, and has a son.
The Busmen forward has engaged in community work every Christmas and end of Ramadan to give back to the people that have embraced him over the years. He has learned to love the country and its people, who he admires for their warmth, resilience, and their special characteristic of giving primacy to family over everything else.
Meanwhile, during his stint as an import in the PFL, Mendy also participated in Asian Football Confederation games as a member of the Philippine team.
He dreams to become part of the Philippine National Team and contribute to bringing honor and glory to the Philippines as it joins more international competitions in the future.
In the said bill, Mendy envisions the Philippines that is known not only in the worlds of basketball and boxing. It is his desire to play an integral part in developing football in the country and helping mold the youth to become competitive and at the same time teach them to uphold the ideals of sportsmanship and fair play.
On the other hand, in Senate Bill 1391, it is stated that Marañon was born on May 15, 1986, and started playing football as a young boy in the streets of Cadiz, Spain. His special talent in the sport became apparent early in his life, earning his first paycheck as a professional football player at the young age of sixteen.
He came to the Philippines on May 17, 2015, to play for Ceres Negros FC in the PFL where he was named the top scorer of the league in 2017 and 2019, and the best import player in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
The Busmen striker was also the top scorer of the AFC Cup in 2019.
In the five years that he has been playing football in the Philippines, Marañon has come to love the country and its people. He engages himself in community work, collaborating with local football clubs in the cities of Sagay and Bacolod in Negros Occidental, Boracay in Aklan, as well as in Manila.
He wants to inspire and encourage the Filipino youth to play the sport that saved him from drugs, alcohol and other bad habits.
He dreams of building a family in this country and raising his children surrounded by the kindness, humility, and hospitality that Filipinos are known for. He also aspires to represent the Philippines as part of the national team vying in international competitions, and make the country known as one of the top teams in the world of football.
When asked, Marañon said that he’s happy and glad about this news. “I will wait for that,” the 34-year-old Ceres FC forward said.